LATE EXTRA

UK, 1935, 69 minutes, Black and white.
James Mason, Virginia Cherrill, Alastair Sim, Ian Colin, Clifford Mc Laglan, Donald Wolfit, Bernard Miles.
Directed by Albert Parker.

Late Extra is a small British film of the mid 1930s, notable for its cast and for the first feature film of James Mason, in his mid-20s. In 10 years he was the suave villain of many British films, then went to the United States and a successful international career which lasted for another 50 years.

Also in the cast is Alastair Sim, Scots accent, exhibiting his eccentric mannerisms. The villain is played by Clifford Mc Laglan, Victor Mc Laglan’s brother. Also in the cast is Donald Wolfit as the police inspector, an uncredited Bernard Miles as a reporter who gets the sack – and, in uncredited roles, Ralph Truman and Michael Wilding. Also in the cast is leading lady is Virginia Cherrill who appeared with Charlie Chaplin in City Lights and was one of the wives, briefly, of Cary Grant.

The film opens with a bank robbery, a police report, stolen car, the robber shooting a policeman dead and then his going into hiding. While there is an emphasis on police work, especially Donald Wolfit, the film is mainly, as the title suggests, about newspapers and the desperate impulse to get news and the unflagging ambition and loyalty of the younger journalists. Alastair Sim, on the other hand, plays a journalist who has been working for the paper for over 20 years and has received an umbrella after 15 years as a tribute!

The plot is quite complicated with one of the reporters having a connection with a restaurant manager who is in league with the robber – and the reporter also in love with the restaurant manager’s daughter. The film shows the paper offering a reward and the many cranks who ring up but there is a genuine caller who is found murdered.

The film is about the young reporters on the scene, following up clues, going to the restaurant, being betrayed by the reporter on the inside, and enthusiasm that the story must get through at any cost.

A romantic ending – with Alastair Sim giving the couple is an umbrella as a wedding gift!

A curiosity item for the careers of James Mason, Alastair Sim, Donald Wolfit.